Machine for continuously treating heavy wire and similar strip material



Oct. 3, 1961 KENMQRE ET A1. 3,002,537

MACHINE FOR C INUoUsL REAIING HEAVY WIRE AND ILAR sT MATERIAL Filed May 27. 1954 5 Sheets-Shea?l l OC- 3, 1961 H. KENMORE ET A1. 3,002,537

MACHINE FOR coNTrNuoUsLY TREATING HEAVY WIRE AND SIMILAR STRIP MATERIAL Filed May 27. 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Kmme JE /W/M/N 3,002,537 TINUOUSLY TREATING HEAVY WIRE Oct. 3, 1961 H. KENMORE ET Ax.

MACHINE FOR CON AND SIMILAR STRIP MATERIAL Filed May 2'?. 1954 wm NK Er Ve m A A Marge MAA/:av

I I l'l atraer Fatented Got. 3, i961 Filed May 27, 1954, Ser. No. 432,774 2 Claims. (Cl. 1401) This invention relates to an apparatus for treating rigid metal rod material, such as heavy wire, tubing, pipes or strips, in various liquid treating baths. More specifically, the invention relates to an apparatus for coiling heavy metallic wire and similar strip material and continuously passing it in the form of a helix through a series of baths.

This application is a continuation-impart of U.S. application Serial No. 184,884 filed September 14, 1950, and now Patent No. 2,680,710 which in turn is a continuationin-part o-f U.S. application Serial No. 732,812 filed March 6, i947, now abandoned.

In both application Serial No. 184,884 and in application Serial No. 732,812 an electroplating apparatus is disclosed in which wire, tubes or similar strip material is straightened, coiled and continuously stored in the form of a moving helix on a long horizontal roller and portion of the wire which is stored on the horizontal roller is continuously treated and electroplated. A serious limitation in connection with such an apparatus is that the length of helix that can be supported and treated on the horizontal roller is limited and the amount of plated metal that can be applied is also limited.

One limitation to the length of the helix that can be treated is due to the fact that as a given coil in the helix gets farther away from the helix forming device it tends to lose some of its rigidity and the size of different coils in the helix may increase or decrease after traveling l2-l6 feet away from the helix forming device. This may be due to an elastic memory or some similar property of the metal strip or wire.

One phase of this invention is based on the discovery that the individual coils of the freshly formed helix tend to retain their rigidity for much longer distances when supported on two parallel horizontal rollers. For example, wires which heretofore would retain their shape only long enough to be electroplated -to the extent of 5% by weight can be plated to the extent of 50% by weight with the present apparatus.

Another limitation on the single supporting roller structure is that the wire helix tends to sway sideways with only one-point contact per individual coil of helix. This sway increases as the length of the helix and supporting roller increases, possibly due to the increase sag in the roller.

Another phase of the invention is based on the discovery that sway in long horizontally supported helices can be substantially completely eliminated by substituting two horizontal supporting rollers for the single roller of the prior art.

Another reason that the long helix tends to lose its rigidity has been found to be due to insufcient traction between the helix and the supporting rollers over the longer length of the helix. The two-roller support of the present invention provides at least twice the traction of the one-support roller. It is also true that two horizontal rollers are capable of supporting longer lengths of the helix with smaller sag on the rollers. Since the rollers rotate at a high speed the sag is an important factor since the roller is bent back and forth the amount of the sag, with each completerotation.

Among the objects of this invention is to provide a means for supporting and uniformly treating a larger number of wire coils than heretofore possible whereby one can plate greater amounts of metal onto said wire and employ larger helical coils of Wire.

It will be realized that in order to plate wire, strip or tubing with up to 50% by weight of metal, so that the electrodeposited metal is of uniform thickness throughout, it is necessary to prevent changes in the individual coil size, swaying of the helical coil, etc., since the position of the electrodesin the electroplating bath is fixed and any change which affects the position of the moving helix with respect to the electrodes will disturb the uniformity of plating.

Among other objects of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the type in which the wire is continuously formed into the shape of a traveling helix and treated or electroplated while in such helical shape, which apparatus is adapted to uniformly feed a wire helix of larger coil size and greater length than heretofore possible.

These objects and others ancillary thereto are obtained by providing wire straightening and helix coiling means in combination with a pair of parallel horizontal supporting rollers for holding the wire helix inside the upper portion of the helix while permitting the lower portions of the helix to dip into the various treating baths.

A very desirable arrangement is to employ rollers of substantially the same size and shape with the axes thereof in the same horizontal plane so that the load is divided equally between the rollers. The rollers are both positively rotated at the same peripheral speed.

The apparatus and process of the invention is applicable to any type of metal strip or tube material which is bendable to coil form. and at the same time of sucient diameter and/ or temper to retain the shape given it by a coil forming device. For convenience, such strip or tube materials are referred to generally as wire regardless of the cross sectional configuration thereof. The strip or tube material should have a cross sectional area at least equal to that of Ma diameter round wire.

The invention itself, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus partly cut away.

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view through an electroplating tank along line 3 3 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is an end view of the apparatus.

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional Side View taken along line 5-5 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 6 is a detail view showing how the curvature and pitch of the helix are imparted to the straightened wire.

As indicated in FIGURE l, wire l0 from the coiled bundle 11, which bundle l1 is preferably held non-rotatably on the stand 20, is drawn off the coil ll. more or less axially. Drawing the wire i0 oli' the coil axially gives it a 360 twist per coil but this does not interfere with the process when the subsequent treatments set forth below are included. By holding the bundle 11 stationary on the stand 20 it is possible to weld the free end thereof to the end of another bundle il held on stand 21 while the wire 10 from bundle 1l is passing through the apparatus. The wire l0 is pulled oi the bundle 11 by the drum 30. The die 3l is small enough to reduce the diameter of the wire at least slightly and to remove scale and irregularities but it also has a beneficial effect of Work hardening the Wire thereby increasing the temper thereof so as to make the wire stiffer and capable of retaining the curvature and pitch to be imparted thereto. The

wire is drawn from the drum 30 by the pair of gripping and forwarding or pushing rollers 32, 33 and is then passed through the straightening device 4t), 41 and to the coil forming roller 50 which imparts a definite uniform curvature and a definite uniform pitch to the wire forced over` it. The roller 50 is spaced from roller 46, 48, as shown in FIGURE 6, both tangentially and axially so as to impart a pitch as well as a curvature to the wire 10. From the coil forming roller 59 the coiled wire passes to the pair of horizontal helix supporting rollers 260 and 261. Preferably several coils of the helix thus formed rotate outside of the treating bath section of the* device and the coils then pass into the first of the series of treating baths. When the machine is to be closed down the wire can be cut somewhere between that portion Vwhich is just about to enter the bath and the-lirst completecoil following the roller 50 and the remainder of the wire in the bath is passed on through the treating section and completely treated. y

The gripping rollers 32, 33 which push the vwire through the apparatus are driven from the shaft 34, gear 35, chain drive 36, and shaft 37. The shaft 263 which is attached to the forwarding roller V260 is driven by gear 62, chain 63, shaft 64, etc. Roller 261 is driven from the same shaft 263 which drives roller 260 by means of gear 264, chain 265, gear 266 and shaft 267. The shafts 37 and 64 are driven from a common source of power if desired, but the gear boxes 38 and 65, shown diagrammatically, include adjustable speed change devices (adjusting means not shown) such as a Reeves drive.

In operation the speeds of these two shafts 34 and 64 must be synchronized to maintain proper coil size and machine operation.

To illustrate: If the speed of shaft 34 is faster than the speed of rollers 269 and 261, the diameter of the coils immediately following the coil forming roll 50 will become larger and this enlarged diameter will gradually work its way into the plating tanks.

If the speed of shaft 34 is slower than lthe speed of rollers 260 and 261, the reverse will happen, i.e., the coil size following the coil forming roll will become smaller.

It has been learned by experience that the coil diameter should not vary more than plus or minus one inch from that originally set by the coil forming roll 50. To accomplish this requires continual manual or automatic speed regulation of one or the other driving parts 38 or 65.

The speed of the devices cannot be fixed apparently because the various characteristics of the wire such as temper, uniformity of diameter, etc. may continuously change, making it impossible to perfectly match the peripheral speed of the drawing rolls 32, 33 and the bottom roller 60.

The two units 40 and 41 of the straightening device are positioned at approximated right angles to each other. The rst unit 40 comprises a plurality of pulleys 42, 42 mounted on vertical shafts 43 at one side of the unit and an equal number of pulleys 44, 44 mounted on shafts 45 at the opposite side of the unit and positioned so that the wire is contacted alternately by a pulley 42 and a pulley 44 as it passes through the unit 40. Similarly the pulleys 46 in shafts 47 are mounted at the upper side of unit 41 and the pulleys 48 in shaft 49 are mounted on the lower side of the unit 41.

As the wire 1() is pushed past the straightening unit 41 it is curved by the roller or pulley 50, the peripheral groove 51 of the pulley 50 being spaced vertically from the wire contacting grooves of the pulleys 46 and 48 of straightener unit 41 to impart a denite uniform curvature to the straightened wire. The plane of rotation of the pulley 50 is substantially parallel to but spaced horizontally from the plane of rotation of the pulleys 48 so ,as to give the helix 10' which is formed a 'definite uniform pitch. The shaft 54 is rotatably mounted in a block v52 which contains suitable adjusting means 53 for varying the distance of the pulley 50 from the block 52.

As shown in the drawing the straightening device 40, 41 and the coiling means 50 are located tangentially with respect to the lower part of the helix which is formed. rIhese devices, however, can be located tangentially to the helix 10 which is formed Vat any point about the circumference thereof.

The rollers 260 and 261 extend vhorizontally above a number of separate, adjacent, bath chambers 70-78. So that the position of the helix 10 which is passing through the treating baths shall not be slowed up by friction or contact with the walls of the baths a particular and unusual type of end wall and separating partition have been devised. That is,'the upper part of the wall is sloped in one direction (the axial direction of the approaching wire) at one-side thereof and is sloped in the opposite direction on the other side. The sloping portions shown start from a horizontal line which is located approximately at the center portion or axis of the helix 10'. A very satisfactory structure is shown at the end wall 8G of the bath 70. Below the horizontal line 81 (see FIG. 4), the end Wall 80 is substantially straight and is attached at right angles to the side walls and bottom of the bath structure. From the line 81 upwardly the right side 82 of the end wall 80 slopes inwardly with respect to the bath 70 and from the line 81 upwardly the left hand side 483 slopes outwardly so that that portion of the helix designated as A which is just passing into the bath 70 does not contact any part of the bath end wall S0 even though the wire passes over the rollers 266 and 261 at an angle of approximately 30. The sloping portions 82 and 83 are connected by the triangular portion 84 which extends down from the central portion of the partition. So that the edges of the end wall or the partitions can be connected rectilinearly to the tank, the sloping areas'82 and 83 are shown as ending adjacent to but slightly spaced from the sides of the tank. The sloping areas extend beyond the'space which is traversed by the helix and thel side edge 85 of the wall 80, for example, lies in the same plane as that portion of the wall below the line 81. This side edge 85 is connected to the slope portion 83 by a triangular section 86 (only partly shown) which is approximately equal to a bisccted portion of the triangular section 84. The drawing shows sharp right angle turns or bends connecting the sloping portions 82 and 83 to the center connecting portion 84 and the side triangular portion 86 but it is obvious that these bends may be considerably rounded off, if desired, since the helix does not approach closely to the extreme side portions or the center partof the partitions or Walls 80. The side parts 85 and 86 can be omitted altogether since the only disadvantage of such omission is to make it slightly more diicult to align the partitions when building the apparatus. As best shown in FIGURE 2 the side walls 90, 91 of the tank 71 may be united to the side walls 92, 93 of an adjacent tank 72 by means of the laterally extending flanges 94, 95, 96, and 97. The edges 85 of the partition 80 being held between two adjacent flanges 96 and 97. Some of the partitions may be attached to the edges of the side Walls as is the partition The end walls 80, extend above the level of the roller 60 and have a slot 88 (see FIGURES l, 3 and 4) which extends further away from one side of the roller 60 than from the other.

The remaining 'partitions or end Walls may be constructed similarly with lthe two sloping sides 82 and 83, etc., so that in its complete path of travel through the baths, the wire 'never comes into contact with the walls thereof. When operating vat high speeds of over 50 feet per minute, for example, this freedom from frictional engagement'with the bath walls lis of tremendous importance since at such speeds'm'e'rely 'momentary contact with the bath walls "frictinallyholds 'back' the yparticular coil which makes the contact "su'cie'ntly tochange its diameter and once thediar'ne'terof vac'oil at a particular part of the `appaatus'iscliange'd'eveiy subsequent portion of the wire which passes that part will be given approximately the same reduced or increased diameter.

The sequence of baths employed depends on the metal being plated or treated but it should always include at least one cleaning bath before an electroplating or metal coating bath. In the apparatus shown the following sequence of -baths may be employed. Bath 70 is a cleaning bath containing an aqueous solution of sodium phosphate for example. 'From bath 70 the wire passes to bath 71 which is a cold water rinse bath. Suitable means such as tap 113 may be provided to continuously replenish the water in this bath. Next bath 72 may be a hot sulfuric acid bath, which is followed by cold water rinse bath 73. Bath 74 is another cleaning bath. Bath 76 may be a polarizing or flash plating bath.

The electroplating bath 77 shows 17 turns of the helix but usually the bath will include 20-75 turns. A rst set of electrode contact elements 270 held on rod 271 and a second set of electrode elements 272 held on rod 273 are provided. Higher current densities for plating can be obtained with the pairs of electrodes 270l and 272.

The anodes in the bath 77 are about equally spaced on the inside and outside of the helix as can be seen in FIG. 3. The outside electrodes 124 and 125 are suspended from the anode connecting bars 122 and 123. The electrodes 124 and 125 which extend from bars 122 and 123, respectively, follow the curvature of or are substantially concentric 'With helix 10. lFabric bags 126 and 127 are shown covering the electrodes 124 and 125. The inner elec-trode supports 130, 131 hold electrodes 132, 133, respectively, which may also be covered by fabric bags 134, 135. The electrodes 132 and 133 may be tied together at their inner free ends to maintain their proper position in the bath. Similarly the free ends of electrodes 123 and 124 may be tied together. The various pairs of inside and outside electrodes are equally spaced dong the length of the bath as illustrated in FIG. 2.

The individual coils of the helix are guided and maintained in their proper pitch or relationship with the next adjacent coils by the guide rod 280 extending along the top of the helix'. The guide rod 280 contains a plurality of projections 281 which extend between the top portions of the individual coils as best shown in FIG. 5.

The features and principles underlying the invention described above in connection with specic exemplications will suggest to those skilled in the art many other modications thereof. It is accordingly desired that the appended claims shall not be limited to any specific feature or details thereof.

We claim:

1. In an apparatus for treating heavy gauge wire having a cross sectional area at least equivalent to that of a round Wire With a diameter of 0.075 comprising an elongated wire propelling and straightening device which comprises a plurality of generally aligned wire engaging elements including at least two opposed gripping rollers, means for driving at least one of said gripping rollers to propel the wire through the other generally aligned wire engaging elements, a Wire curving device comprising a curving roller adjacent the delivery end of said wire propelling and straightening device, the periphery of said curving roller being somewhat out of alignment with the wire engaging elements of the wire propelling and straightening device in a vertical direction so as to impart a definite curvature to wire coming from the latter and being also out of alignment with said wire engaging elements in a horizontal direction so as to impart a definite pitch to the curved wire, the improved construction comprising a pair of rotatable elongated parallel supporting rollers with their axes in the same horizontal plane each having one end thereof in the region of said curving roller and extending in parallel vertical planes which are at substantially right angles with respect to the path of the wire passing through the propelling and straightening device so as to cooperatively coact with said curving means to receive said wire curved by said curving device in the form of a helix and to support a number of the individual coils of said helix in a suspended position, means to rotate said elongated supporting and suspending rollers at the same peripheral speed in the same direction, said last named means being distinct from said means for rotating the gripping roller, and at least one bath surrounding a substantial part of the suspended portions of a number of the coils of the helix held on the parallel horizontal supporting rollers.

2. In an apparatus for treating heavy gauge wire having a cross sectional area at least equivalent to that of a round wire With a diameter of .075, comprising a pair of opposed rollers adapted to grip a Wire therebetween, means to positively rotate at least one of said gripping rollers, an elongated wire straightening means comprising opposed sets of wire engaging rollers, one end of said wire straightening means being positioned adjacent to and cooperatively coacting with said gripping rollers, said opposed sets of straightening rollers having a substantially straight opening therebetween to receive said wire as it comes from said gripping rollers and to guide said wire in a substantially straight path therethrough, said opening being substantially tangential with respect to both of the gripping rollers, a wire curving means adjacent to the other end of said straightening means but out of alignment with the path of the Wire passing through said straightening means, the improved construction comprising a pair of parallel rotatable, elongated, horizontal supporting and suspending rollers positioned in substantially the same horizontal plane adapted to receive the wire curved by said curving means in the form of a helix and to support a number of the individual coils of said helix in suspended position, one end of each of said supporting rollers being in the region of said curving means and the other ends thereof extending at approximately right angles with respect to the said path of said wire strand through said gripping rolls and said straightening means, means to rotate said elongated supporting and suspending rollers in the same direction at the same peripheral speed, said last named means being distinct from the means for rotating the gripping roller a change speed device connected to at least one of said means for rotating the gripping rollers and the means for rotating the horizontal rollers whereby the relative speeds of the two said positively rotated devices can be synchronized in accordance with the characteristics of the wire, and at least one bath surrounding a substantial part of the suspended portions of a number of coils of the helix held on the parallel horizontal supporting rollers.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 283,095 Garland Aug. 14, 1883 1,023,099 Shuster Apr. 9, 1912 1,908,884 Burd May 16, 1933 1,930,329 Vinar Oct. 10, 1933 2,319,812 Gram May 25, 1943 2,339,424 Poole Ian. 18, 1944 2,495,695 Camn Jan. 31, 1950 2,517,309 Heller Aug. 1, 1950 2,648,625 Buser Aug. 11, V1953 2,649,129 Schlank Aug. 18, 1953 2,680,710 Kenmore June 8, 1954 2,748,784 Kenmore June 5, 1956 

